Personally, I don't think this upgrade will net you much benefit. The only thing your going to gain is a little bit faster clock speed and little more L2 cache. Yes, the T9900 will be faster, but you'll barely notice it. Both CPUs are core2duo CPUs. As to how it will compare to i3, it depends on the exact i3 and the application your running. Single thread performance, the two proc should be close with the T9900 barely losing out to the i3. In multi-thread performance, the i3, considering it is hyper-threaded, will beat up the T9900.

Wow, that's an expensive upgrade. To gauge the relative performance of CPUs, I use this website; http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_range_cpus.html
The T9900 is on the High Mid Range CPU page, with current price around $400, 2359 CPU marks. Your P8600 scores 1506 CPU marks, quite a ways down the list. Unless you're getting this part for little or no money, it isn't worth it, and I doubt it will help much in gaming.

wow, that's an expensive upgrade. To gauge the relative performance of cpus, i use this website; http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_range_cpus.html
the t9900 is on the high mid range cpu page, with current price around $400, 2359 cpu marks. Your p8600 scores 1506 cpu marks, quite a ways down the list. Unless you're getting this part for little or no money, it isn't worth it, and i doubt it will help much in gaming.

I get 38-50FPS (low 30's in intense scenes)
That's when my CPU caps.
I was hoping that x2 the L2 Cache and 600MHz extra per core would help gain a few FPS.

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It may but barely, You should look to getting a higher end laptop (something quad core with a GTX 4xx or HD6xxx). Upgrading something that old is a waste of money for the small performance gains you will make.

It may but barely, You should look to getting a higher end laptop (something quad core with a GTX 4xx or HD6xxx). Upgrading something that old is a waste of money for the small performance gains you will make.

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I just got this unit for $200 looking brand new.
A $200 Like New ThinkPad was a no brainer for me especially since it's the model with switchable graphics.
I mainly got it to run Skyrim and it does the job well @ 1280x800 with med detail (no AA).
It's just GTA that bothers me.
It runs perfectly on low res but I would love to bump it up to at least 1024x768.
With the P8600 I end up getting 30FPS which is a little low that's why I was thinking of upgrading the CPU since it's the bottleneck.
The GPU is never on max load when running GTA - it caps @ mid-%80 telling me that there is still some space to turn up detail/resolution.

I just got this unit for $200 looking brand new.
A $200 Like New ThinkPad was a no brainer for me especially since it's the model with switchable graphics.
I mainly got it to run Skyrim and it does the job well @ 1280x800 with med detail (no AA).
It's just GTA that bothers me.
It runs perfectly on low res but I would love to bump it up to at least 1024x768.
With the P8600 I end up getting 30FPS which is a little low that's why I was thinking of upgrading the CPU since it's the bottleneck.
The GPU is never on max load when running GTA - it caps @ mid-%80 telling me that there is still some space to turn up detail/resolution.

Please correct me if im wrong.

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It's not worth the money, but it's an option you can do if you wish.
General consensus is the price is arguable for the upgrade. If you want to drop that $80 then just do it.

I just got this unit for $200 looking brand new.
A $200 Like New ThinkPad was a no brainer for me especially since it's the model with switchable graphics.
I mainly got it to run Skyrim and it does the job well @ 1280x800 with med detail (no AA).
It's just GTA that bothers me.
It runs perfectly on low res but I would love to bump it up to at least 1024x768.
With the P8600 I end up getting 30FPS which is a little low that's why I was thinking of upgrading the CPU since it's the bottleneck.
The GPU is never on max load when running GTA - it caps @ mid-%80 telling me that there is still some space to turn up detail/resolution.

Please correct me if im wrong.

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The laptop is quite old. You may have JUST bought it in newish or recertified/warehouse condition but the laptop was released around 2008 and was not meant for gaming at its release. Yes it does come with a low end ATI card but will it handle high end games? NOT in its life. Its just not worth a upgrade for such an old laptop.

I think it does pretty decent for it's age.
The laptop has bin "RENEWED" by Lenovo in Q3 2012. (new plastics and Motherboard)
Left 4 Dead 2 Runs on almost MAX (1680x1050 - all high except AA)
But then again it's nothing compared to GTA - that's why I'm considering the CPU.
Some people have to understand that old hardware doesn't mean it won't do the job and that not every 1 needs the reflection in rain or the extra smoke effects. (just examples)
For example if I don't need AA I can get the same frame rate with a 2011 GPU vs a 2013 GPU. I'm used to low detail. - What can I say!?

I think it does pretty decent for it's age.
The laptop has bin "RENEWED" by Lenovo in Q3 2012. (new plastics and Motherboard)
Left 4 Dead 2 Runs on almost MAX (1680x1050 - all high except AA)
But then again it's nothing compared to GTA - that's why I'm considering the CPU.
Some people have to understand that old hardware doesn't mean it won't do the job and that not every 1 needs the reflection in rain or the extra smoke effects. (just examples)
For example if I don't need AA I can get the same frame rate with a 2011 GPU vs a 2013 GPU. I'm used to low detail. - What can I say!?

how ?
I'm using the information you guys provided including benchmarks and pricing.
I just disagree with some people's idea of dated hardware.

Sarcastic example:

#1: Can u run Tomb Raider on max?
#2: No but I can on medium-low
#1: Get something new!!

I do appreciate all the help though!
The goal of getting a T9900 would be faster video converting and a few extra FPS.

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I concur some old hardware is capable it's just lots of people dont like feeding a race horse with 2 legs, if you can understand that analogy. By all means, fill your boots if you want more juice from it.

Sorry, my browser didn't refresh. For $80, I'd be tempted to give it a try, as long as you feel your cooling setup can handle the bump from 25w to 35w TDP, a 40% increase. Should increase CPU performance by 25%. Hope it works out.

Sorry, my browser didn't refresh. For $80, I'd be tempted to give it a try, as long as you feel your cooling setup can handle the bump from 25w to 35w TDP, a 40% increase. Should increase CPU performance by 25%. Hope it works out.